Sports « Weekly Gravy

Bad news for Olympians headed to Paris — high levels of ozone pollution and grass pollen are likely during the upcoming games if hot, sunny weather prevails, researchers said. Ozone levels in Paris and its environs tend to exceed World Health Organization (WHO) recommended thresholds about 20 days per month between July and September, according to an analysis of air quality monitoring data from recent years. “Air quality in Paris during the summer can be characterized mainly by high ozone levels in the afternoon, especially on sunny and hot days,” concluded the research team led by Valerie Bougault, an associate professor with the University Cote d’Azur in Nice, France. Highly allergenic grass pollen will also be filling the air, although researchers noted those levels tend to fall between July and September. Researchers said they undertook the study to help Olympic athletes and spectators best prepare for the games. “By comparing these [air quality] levels with those in their area, athletes and spectators can see if they need to take steps to avoid or reduce their exposure,” the researchers wrote. “They can discuss this with their doctor and plan their activities to avoid the times and types of places where pollution is highest.” For the study, researchers analyzed air pollution readings from Paris and its suburbs taken between 2020 and 2023, as well as pollen counts… read on > read on >

People diagnosed with one of the most common inherited heart arrhythmias, called Long QT syndrome (LQTS), can safely engage in vigorous exercise without any added risk for sudden death or cardiac arrest, a new study finds. “Arrhythmic events were low in these appropriately treated individuals with LQTS in both those exercising vigorously and those exercising moderately or who were sedentary,” concluded a team led by Dr. Rachel Lampert, a professor of cardiology at Yale University School of Medicine. According to the Cleveland Clinic, LQTS involves delays in “recharging” the heart’s electrical system, which in turn can lead to a potentially dangerous irregular heartbeat. Medications, implanted devices and surgery are used to help control the condition, which is often inherited. According to one European study, LQTS occurs in about 1 in every 2,500 people, making it “the most commonly detected genetic electrical abnormality” of the heart, Lampert’s team said. Prior studies had suggested that vigorous exercise might help trigger cardiac arrest in people with LQTS, but as the researchers pointed out, those studies largely involved patients whose LQTS was only diagnosed after such a heart event. What about people who already know they have LQTS and are being appropriately treated? To find out, her team tracked outcomes over three years for 1,413 people diagnosed with LQTS at 37 medical sites in five countries. These people ranged… read on > read on >

The Olympics are often described as a rare, once-in-a-lifetime shot at international sports glory. That may be more true for Olympic track and field competitors than other athletes, a new study reports. There appears to be a peak performance age for track and field athletes, who specialize in running, jumping and throwing events, researchers report. It turns out that the peak age for these athletes is 27. After age 27, there’s only a 44% chance that an athlete’s peak is still ahead of them, results show. That number drops every subsequent year. What’s more, the average age of Olympic track and field athlete has remained remarkably consistent over the past three decades — just under 27. “Because the Olympics occur only once every four years, track and field athletes must carefully consider when and how they should train to maximize their probability of qualifying for the Olympics while at their personal peak,” said lead researcher David Awosoga, a master’s student in data science at the University of Waterloo in Canada. For the study, researchers analyzed year-by-year career performance data from every track and field athlete at the Olympics since the 1996 games in Atlanta. The team considered each athlete’s gender, nationality, event type and training level. Researchers focused on track and field because for many of these athletes, the Olympics offers the best chance to… read on > read on >

Alix Popham played in two rugby World Cups and won a Six Nations Grand Slam before retiring in 2011 as a professional in the rough-and-tumble game. By 2020, he had already been diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disabling brain disease long linked to repeated head trauma. Emboldened to activism by his experience, Popham helped found Head for Change, which advocates for better ways of preventing brain damage among rugby players. “This is more evidence that big changes need to happen to protect current rugby players. World Rugby need to get their heads out of the sand and in turn protect the game,” Popham said in a news release from Durham University. Similar to what’s been observed in other contact sports such as football and boxing, rugby can leave players with neurological damage long after they’ve retired. Now, a new study out of Durham suggests that certain blood biomarkers could predict those players at highest risk for CTE and other neurological issues. That might allow for earlier interventions that could minimize the damage, researchers said. Prior research has already demonstrated that retired professional rugby players have a much higher odds for depression, anxiety and irritability compared to amateur rugby players or athletes involved in non-contact sports. In the new study, Durham researchers add to what’s known about specific components… read on > read on >

Bicycling to work can vastly improve your health and reduce your risk of death, a new study shows. People who bike commute have a 47% lower overall risk of an early death, researchers found. They also are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer and mental health problems, results show. Walking to work also conferred some health benefits, but bicycle commuting provided the strongest boost to a person’s well-being, researchers reported July 16 in the journal BMJ Public Health. “This study provides timely evidence of the health benefits of active commuting for both local, national and international policymakers,” concluded the research team led by Catherine Friel, a doctoral researcher with the University of Glasgow in Scotland. For this report, researchers analyzed data from a national health study in Scotland involving 5% of the Scottish population. As part of the national study, participants were asked how they commuted to work. Their responses were linked to records of national hospital admissions, drug prescriptions and deaths between 2001 and 2018. Researchers found that commuting by bicycle was associated with: A 51% lower risk of dying from cancer A 24% lower risk of being hospitalized for cancer A 24% lower risk of hospital admission for heart disease A 30% lower risk of being prescribed a heart medication A 20% lower risk of receiving a prescription for mental health problems… read on > read on >

Exercise near bedtime won’t necessarily wreck a person’s sleep, a new study says. Intense exercise is typically discouraged as bedtime approaches, since such activity can disturb sleep by increasing body temperature and heart rate, researchers said. But short resistance exercise “activity breaks” at regular intervals can actually improve a person’s sleep, compared to winding down on a couch, researchers reported in the journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. Simple, three-minute “activity breaks” involving chair squats, calf raises and standing knee raises with straight leg hip extensions added nearly an extra half-hour to a person’s sleep, when performed at 30-minute intervals in the four hours before sleep, results show. “These results add to a growing body of evidence that indicates evening exercise does not disrupt sleep quality, despite current sleep recommendations to the contrary,” concluded the research team led by Jennifer Gale, a doctoral candidate and sedentary behavior researcher with the University of Otago in New Zealand. For the study, researchers recruited 30 people ages 18 to 40. All participants said they typically have more than five hours of sedentary time at work and two more hours in the evening. Each of the participants completed two different sessions in a controlled laboratory experiment, separated by a minimum of six days. In one session, they remained seated in the four hours prior to sleep. In the… read on > read on >

Autopsies of deceased boxers and pro football players have long confirmed that repeat head injuries can lead to a devastating brain condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Now, research supports the notion that contact sports can also raise the odds for a Parkinson’s-like disease, called parkinsonism, in athletes already affected by CTE. In the new study, “subjects with parkinsonism were more likely to have more severe CTE-related brain cell death in a region of the brainstem important for controlling movement,” noted study lead author Dr. Thor Stein. He’s an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Boston University. The study involved postmortem examination of the brains of 481 deceased athletes. It was published July 15 in the journal JAMA Neurology. As the researchers described it, parkinsonism carries some of the hallmarks of classic Parkinson’s disease — tremor, slowed movements, abnormal stiffness in the limbs. The two conditions differ, however, in how they manifest in brain tissue. People with Parkinson’s disease typically show a buildup of proteins called Lewy bodies in their brain cells, but the new research found no such buildup in the brains of about three-quarters of people with CTE and parkinsonism. “We were surprised to find that most individuals with CTE and parkinsonism did not have Lewy body pathology,” Stein noted in a university news release. So, what’s driving the parkinsonism? According… read on > read on >

Dropping weight prior to competition is a common practice among athletes. But starving oneself prior to an intense athletic event is likely a wrongheaded, self-defeating practice, a new study warns. Triathletes who ate less prior to competition lost more muscle mass and performed poorly, compared to their function after they followed a sensible diet, researchers found. “There is no doubt that this practice greatly impairs one’s performance as an athlete, even over shorter periods of time,” said lead researcher Jan Sommer Jeppesen, a doctoral student with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Attempts to lose weight prior to competition might be driven by a belief that fewer pounds will enhance performance, or by a desire to look “lean and mean” when hitting the field, researchers said. Regardless, it’s a widespread phenomenon among athletes, particularly those in endurance sports like running, swimming, cycling and rowing, researchers said. “It is particularly problematic among female endurance athletes. Many athletes focus heavily on weight in their respective sports. Consequently, they tend to go into short-term, but intense periods of weight loss with the expectation of performing better,” said senior researcher Ylva Hellsten, a professor with the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports. But not eating enough is associated with missed periods, compromised bone health, changes in metabolism, and other health effects that could actually hamper an… read on > read on >

Nearly half of cancer deaths and 4 of 10 cases of cancer are linked to a person’s lifestyle, a new study says. Cigarette smoking remains the biggest cancer risk, contributing to 30% of cancer deaths and 20% of cancer cases, results show. But excess body weight, drinking, lack of exercise, diet and skipping cancer-preventing vaccinations also increase a person’s risk of developing or dying from cancer, researchers said. For the study, researchers analyzed nationwide data on cancer for 2019 and its risk factors to estimate the number of cases and deaths attributable to lifestyle risk factors. Cigarette smoking contributes to 56% of all potentially preventable cancers in men and 40% of those in women, results show. “The number of lung cancer deaths attributable to cigarette smoking in the United States is alarming,” given that smoking has greatly declined during the past few decades, lead researcher Dr. Farhad Islami, senior scientific director of cancer disparity research at the American Cancer Society, said in a news release. “This finding underscores the importance of implementing comprehensive tobacco control policies in each state to promote smoking cessation, as well as heightened efforts to increase screening for early detection of lung cancer, when treatment could be more effective,” Islami added. Excess body weight contributed to about 8% of potentially preventable cancers, alcohol consumption to about 5%, exposure to the sun’s… read on > read on >

Prediabetes can be successfully fought through diet and exercise, a new study shows. People with prediabetes can reduce their long-term risk of death and illness if they use diet and exercise to delay the onset of diabetes for just four years, according to findings published July 9 in the journal PLOS Medicine. Prediabetes — also known as impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) — involves blood sugar levels that are higher than normal, but haven’t reached the levels associated with full-blown diabetes. “This study suggests that a longer duration of non-diabetes status in those with IGT has beneficial health outcomes” and reduces premature death, concluded the research team led by Dr. Guangwei Li of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Da Qing City, China. For the study, researchers tracked the health of 540 people with prediabetes who participated in an earlier six-year clinical trial. In the trial, prediabetic people were assigned to one of four groups – one that followed a healthy diet; one that got more exercise; one that both ate well and exercised; and a control group. After more than 30 years of follow-up, researchers found that people who didn’t lapse into diabetes for at least four years after their diagnosis with prediabetes had a significantly lower risk of dying or experiencing a heart health event like a heart attack or stroke. That protective effect was… read on > read on >